Air Force Magazine
Daily Report for Sept. 11, 2020

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Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine and John A. Tirpak

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‘Future Games’ Exercise to Feature Swarming Drones, Palletized Munitions
By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force is gearing up for “Future Games” later this month, which will
explore new concepts and capabilities not already in the service's toolbox to
help design the future force. Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, deputy chief of staff
for strategy, integration, and requirements, said the latest iteration will
feature palletized munitions, swarming UAVs, and scrutiny of the kill chain. It
will also test some command and control concepts. Hinote said Airmen and
“outside stakeholders” should brace for cuts to existing systems that are
“good, ... that work,” in order to make room for new systems needed to stay
abreast of world competitors.

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Lockheed Martin Hopes to Catch Up On F-35 Deliveries Delayed by COVID-19 by 2023
By John A. Tirpak

Due to pandemic-related slowdowns, Lockheed Martin expects to deliver 122 F-35s
in calendar year 2020—20 less than planned, company executive vice president
for aeronautics Michele A. Evans said in a Sept. 9 interview. The tally will be
gradually made up over two years, in order to avoid driving production capacity
higher and then throttling it back. The program is near its planned maximum
efficient rate. The company is striving to maintain the unit price even with
Block 4 improvements added, but it's not yet clear if it can continue to drive
the unit price lower. Evans also said she doesn't expect an F-35
Performance-Based Logistics contract until next year.

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3 Airmen with the Tennessee Guard’s 118th Wing Die in Small Plane Crash
By Brian W. Everstine

Three Airmen with the Tennessee Air National Guard’s 118th Intelligence,
Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group died Sept. 8 in a small aircraft crash
near McMinnville, Tenn. The Airmen are: Lt. Col. Shelli Huether, the director of
operations of the 118th Intelligence Support Squadron; Capt. Jessica Wright, the
assistant director of operations for the 118th ISS; and Senior Master Sgt. Scott
Bumpus, the chief of current operations for the 236th Intelligence Squadron.
“Words can not begin to explain the shock, grief, pain, and dismay we feel
having lost three remarkable members of our Guard family,” 118th Wing
Commander Col. Todd A. Wiles said in a statement.

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Roper Argues for More Artificial Intelligence Collaboration, Funding
By Rachel S. Cohen

Air Force acquisition boss Will Roper on Sept. 10 made the case for closer
collaboration between military services on artificial intelligence, saying the
Pentagon must get the groundwork right in order to successfully expand so-called
“smart” information technology across the department. “To really make AI
real you have to do a lot of work that is not the glitzy algorithms doing cool
things at the edge,” Roper said during a Pentagon-run AI conference. “You
have to lay in the infrastructure.” Roper wants to pursue “AI as a
service,” another iteration of the Air Force’s push in recent years to
contract out business services.

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US Forces Korea Aircrews Forced to Go Off Peninsula for Live-Fire Qualification
By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. forces in South Korea have not conducted theater-level exercises on the
Korean Peninsula for about two years now, and pilots must leave the country for
live-fire training, but the head of U.S. Forces Korea said Sept. 10 his
readiness remains high despite the challenges. The U.S. military suspended
bilateral exercises with South Korea following the June 2018 summit between
President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Since then, USFK
has kept its bilateral, strategic-level training focused on table-top events,
with local units flying and conducting smaller level training. This has forced
commanders to get creative in these training events to try to maintain readiness
and interoperability with South Korea, USFK boss Army Gen. Robert B. Abrams said
during a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar.

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Virtual Events: AFA’s Virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference
By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference kicks off
Sept. 14 with Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett and Chief of Staff Gen.
Charles Q. Brown Jr. The annual conference, which will be held virtually this
year for the first time, runs through Sept. 16. Chief of Space Operations Gen.
John W. “Jay” Raymond speaks on Tuesday, Sept. 15. Conference attendance is
free for military members and defense civilians, and rates for industry
participants are discounted for AFA members (and from traditional rates for
in-person participants). <a
href="[link removed]">Registration is open
now</a> and space is limited, so early sign-ups are encouraged.

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Radar Sweep

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Snapshot: DOD and COVID-19

Here's a look at how the Defense Department is being impacted by and responding
to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In a Year of Restrictions, Virus Changes Sept. 11, Too

In a year when the coronavirus pandemic has reshaped countless American rituals,
even the commemoration of 9/11 could not escape unchanged.

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Pentagon Acquisition Chief Hints Section 889 Supply Chain Waiver May Be Extended

The Pentagon and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are
discussing extending a waiver that gives the defense industrial base more time
to ensure certain noncritical weapons systems comply with a new rule aimed at
excising Chinese telecommunications equipment from the supply chain, according
to the Defense Department’s acquisition chief.

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Pentagon to Pit AI Against Human Pilots in Live Fighter Trials

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced Sept. 9 that the Pentagon intends to
conduct live trials pitting tactical aircraft controlled by artificial
intelligence against human pilots in 2024. The announcement comes three weeks
after an AI algorithm defeated a human pilot in a simulated dogfight between
F-16s, something Esper described as an example of the “tectonic impact of
machine learning” for the Defense Department’s future.

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The First Members of Space Force Just Deployed to the Middle East

The U.S. Space Force has marked another milestone for the history books: the
first official deployment of its troops—and it's not to the moon.

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Gardner Co-Founds Space Force Caucus

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) is among a bipartisan group of four western
lawmakers that has established a U.S. Senate Space Force Caucus to raise
awareness of the operations of the newest branch of the military, established
last year.

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Northrop Grumman to Terminate OmegA Rocket Program

Northrop Grumman announced it will not move forward with the development of the
OmegA rocket. The vehicle was designed for the sole purpose of competing for a
National Security Space Launch contract award but didn’t make the cut.

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Mitchell Institute Strategic Deterrence Forum: Moshe Patel, Director, IMDO

On a Sept. 9 missile defense-focused installment of the AFA Mitchell Institute
for Aerospace Studies' Strategic Deterrence Forum, Moshe Patel, Director and
General Manager of the Israeli Missile Defense Organization (IMDO), discussed
the missions and priorities of the Israeli Missile Defense Organization,
U.S.-Israeli collaboration on missile defense, and the increasingly challenging
threat environment, among other topics.

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One More Thing...
That Time Boeing Wanted to Turn the 747 Jumbo Jet Into an Aircraft Carrier

In the 1970s, Boeing worked on a project that would have turned jumbo jets into
flying aircraft carriers. The Airborne Aircraft Carrier project involved
converting the Boeing 747, the largest passenger jet flying at the time, into a
mothership capable of launching tiny fighter jets. Although never built, the
concept lives on in spirit in DARPA’s new “Gremlins” drone program.

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